Time Wasting And Over Rates

Over rate penalties are disgraceful. They make a claim on behalf of the viewer which needs to be spelt out. It is spelt out below.

Over rate penalties have nothing to do with time wasting. Time wasting has a specific meaning in cricket because it is defined in the Laws of Cricket.

Time wasting is illegal in cricket under Law 41. It is considered Unfair Play. Law 41.9.2 defines time wasting as

If either umpire considers that the progress of an over is unnecessarily slow, or time is being wasted in any other way, by the captain of the fielding side or by any other fielder, at the first instance the umpire concerned shall…

The law goes on to specify what actions the umpire is to take. Time wasting is a specific act. It involves a noticeable delay in the progress of an over. This is considered Unfair Play in cricket. The umpire is supposed to keep a lid on this. Note that time wasting does not involve any mention of the over rate. It is not judged at the end of the match or even towards the end of the innings, but as it occurs, if the umpire considers that it has occurred.

There was no time wasting in the PAK v IND T20 match in the Asia Cup yesterday. This is a fact, and not speculation, since the umpires did not act under Law 41.9.

Over rate penalties do not exist under the Laws of Cricket. They were introduced by the International Cricket Council and are specified only in the ICC’s playing conditions. Until 2022, over rate penalties were imposed at the end of the match. They depended on the overall rate at which both teams completed their overs. The method for calculating this rate is specified in the ICC’s playing conditions.

The over rate penalty has nothing to do with time wasting. In cricket, time wasting is defined under Law 41. The over rate penalty sets an overall speed at which the match is expected to progress. It is not enforced on the field during a match, but, like the Code of Conduct, is enforced after the match.

The new rule in the 2022 which imposes in-match over rate penalties is an innovation which penalises teams for not bowling a certain number of overs in a certain amount of time. It intervenes in the contest between bat and ball under this pretext. A slow over rate is not time wasting. It is not even suggested that bowling side has competed unfairly. It is only suggested that they have been too slow. For the crime of being too slow, they are penalized by being forced to position 5 fielders inside the boundary for their remaining deliveries!

Over rates were originally considered a problem in the 1980s because the West Indian pace quartet didn’t bowl enough overs in a game (and significantly fewer overs in a day compared to the norm in Test cricket until that point). They later became a problem because they interfered with TV schedules. Now, when television broadcasters have dedicated channels for cricket, one would think that they have less reason to worry about TV schedules. What could be more important for a TV station dedicated to cricket than the live broadcast of a cricket match?

Until 2022, the over rate penalty was bad enough. It punished players for being not entertaining the public swiftly enough by taking away some of their money, or by taking away their ability to participate in the next match. Now it punishes players by forcing them to compete in the current match with a handicap.

On the one hand, we say high minded things about sport and athletes. We say thing about character and courage and team work and learning to compete. And in the same breath, we treat players like mules - to be whipped and punished for, well, apparently not competing quickly enough? The over rate penalty does not claim that one side is cheating. It does not claim that one side is trying to gain an unfair advantage. It just says “too slow” to elite athletes on behalf of couch potatoes.

It is a disgrace.